Uniqueness – United States ofAfricacoming – recent Ordinary Sessions prove
Dr. Tim Murithi, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, 2007
From Pan-Africanism to the Union of Africa, Fahamu News, All Africa, Inc., June 21, http://allafrica.com/stories/200706211028.html [O’Brien]
The agenda to establish a Union Government ofAfricaor the so-calledUnited StatesofAfricais well underway. At the core of this debate is the desire to create several ministerial portfolios for the African Union. During the 4th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, from 30 to 31 January 2005, in Abuja, Nigeria, the AU agreed to the proposals made by the Libyan Government to establish ministerial portfolios for the organisation. Specifically, in the 6th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU Ministers, Libya proposed the establishment of the posts of Minister of Transport and Communications to unify transportation in Member States to be under the competence of the AU which will include airports and main ports of African capital cities, highways, inter-State railways, State-owned airline companies which are to become the basis for a single African airline company. Ultimately,Libyaproposed that this should lead to 'the creation of a post of Minister of Transportation and Communications'.
Link –
1.USaid toAfricaforces insures unilateralism and forces competition – destroying integration and unity.
William Minter, senior research fellow at Action Africa, 2003
America and Africa, Current History journal, VOl. 102, Iss. 664, pg. 195, Proquest, Mary 2003 [O’Brien]
Washington will no doubt continue to pursue this unilateral stance, minimizing its participation in multilateral efforts to deal with African development issues. Despite its concessions to donor perspectives, the NEPAD approach to rich countries pursued by African leaders-with the support of Canada, Britain, and some other European countries-finds little backing from the White House or other United States agencies. TheUnited Statesapproach forces each African country to compete with its neighbors in negotiating its relationship withWashingtonand its access to resources or trade concessions under differentUnited Statesgovernment programs. President Bush may or may not fulfill his pledge to reschedule a visit to the continent for later this year. Regardless, high-level attention inWashingtonto African priorities such as further debt cancellation, adequate funding for multilateral institutions at the global and African levels, and reduction in rich-country agricultural trade subsidies is likely to be minimal.
United States of Africa D/A 1NC Shell (1/2)
2.A single unpopular action, SUCH AS THE PLAN, WILL paralyze the organization permanently
Keith GOTTSCHALK and Siegmar SCHMIDT, April 2004, “The African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development: Strong Institutions for Weak States?” weltpoltik.net
The institutions mirror EC/EU structures: the Assembly of Heads of State and Government is the supreme organ, and the Executive Council consists of the foreign ministers or other ministers. The Committee of Permanent Representatives, the African Court of Justice, the Pan-African Parliament, the Commission and various advisory and technical bodies for social, economic and cultural matters complete the institutional framework. Compared with EU institutions, two main differences are important. First, the AU Commission has only the function of a secretariat and so far has no powers of its own: it is not a supranational institution. Second, decisions by both the Executive Council and the Assembly can be made by a two-thirds majority. In contrast, the right of veto is a core element of the European Council, and in the Council of Ministers states still have a veto on many issues. On the one hand, the AU regulations could increase its effectiveness by making possible quicker decisions than in the eu, where the search for consensus, often according to the lowest common denominator, is the daily reality. On the other hand, there is a danger that states will not support an AU action when they are outvoted. This could lead to the paralysis of the organization in cases where bigger and more powerful states will not respect a decision against their interests and therefore abstain. Sovereignty, the core principle of the OAU, is not curtailed by supranational institutions but by the mode of decision-making.
Impact – TheUnited StatesofAfricais the only way to solve the misery and ethnic conflict inAfrica
Africa News, 7/17/07, “Laugh All You Want, the US of Africa is an Idea That Can Work”, Lexis
SECONDLY, GIVEN the past history of failure of the Pan-African project, the fact that the leaders picked themselves up and gave it another shot, probably knowing well that they would bring ridicule upon themselves, was a wonderful thing. Wonderful because only those who are ready to live with failure ever succeed. It is the one lesson every young man learns growing up. The ones who are too shy to risk rejection, never get the girls. Thirdly, the idea of a U.S. of Africa, like that of the East African political federation, is usually shot down with familiar arguments. The most common is that if a country like Uganda cannot unite its 40 or so ethnic groups, some of whom are busy murdering each other over their differences, how can it realistically expect to make a success of a union with 2,000 tribes? A VALID question. However, the threat (or promise) of things like the U.S. of Africa or the East African political federation tends to make countries look at themselves more closely and seriously examine their nationhood. If the proponents of the U.S. of Africa could ratchet up the campaign for it, the internal debates within nations about what they are all about could also intensify. That's a good thing because, at some point in the future, it will no longer be possible to tell the citizens of most countries that they should not seek the promise of a U.S. of Africa, however illusionary it might sound, because of their national failures. There will come a time when the people will gamble on an elusive happiness within a giant U.S. of Africa, rather than settle for the certainty of failure and misery within their tiny national borders. Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for convergence and new products.
A. Uniqueness – NEPAD succeeding now – other countries on board now
NEPAD succeeding now – countries are on board.
Paul R. Masson is a Visiting Fellow in Economic Studies and Governance Studies. and Heather Milkiewicz is a research assistant in Economic Studies. July 2003 (Africa's Economic Morass--Will a Common Currency Help?, http://www.brook.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb121.htm) [O’Brien]
The NEPAD process has just begun. As ofMay 31, 2003, fifteen African countries have agreed to submit themselves to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a self-monitoring organization comprised of African Union member states. The purpose of the peer review panel, which will have between five and seven members, is to promote the implementation of policies and standards that will lead to political stability, economic growth, development, and integration on a regional and continent-wide level. The recently selected panel consists of six well- respected Africans from various disciplines and includes Graça Machel, humanitarian, former first lady of Mozambique, and wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
B. Link – Funding from theUnited Statesfor the plan discourages regional unity that is key for NEPAD success.
Africa News, 6-17-06, “PanAfrica; African Union Chairman Expresses Optimism, Pushes Investment”, Lexis.
NEPAD is an excellent idea, but it needs funding. What is the best way to work it? Yes thank you, I think it is a generous and appropriate idea, and it's an idea that I support personally. We cannot always be asking others to help finance our projects; we have to do some of it ourselves. I have suggested to my peers during my mandate that each regional grouping, economic grouping, choose one project per region, an integrating project, that would be chosen by the leader and the people of this region that the NEPAD could then truly work to develop and implement, so that NEPAD doesn't remain just an idea, but that it can really become something practical. And I have written to the presidents of the regional communities and shared this idea with them, and we will work on it in the future during the Banjul summit and see what comes out of it. But as you can see, there are different ideas to promote the future of NEPAD, and this is one of the reasons why I'm optimistic. And I have already discussed this with Louis Michel, who is the European Commissioner for Development, and he agrees fully with this idea. Tomorrow I will meet with the president of the World Bank, and I will also share this idea with him, and I want to also share the idea with the president of the African Development Bank, and I will see what their reactions will be, and hopefully they will support this as well because we need to act because we need NEPAD to go beyond the stage of just being an idea.
C. Internal Link - NEPAD success key for a common African currency
Second, the AU’s NEPAD initiative—a parallel initiative to the monetary union project—recognizes that peer pressure within Africa can help in meeting NEPAD’s aims of improved economic growth, governance, and policies. While it is too early to gauge whether NEPAD will be effective, it holds the potential to tackle the most important causes of the failings of African policymaking. Better governance and domestic policies would in turn facilitate regional economic integration, including monetary union. The absence of progress on these issues would almost certainly doom an African monetary union to failure.
D. Impact – Intra-African Trade 1. Common currency is key to Intra-African Trade
Recent research suggests a possible answer. A common currency could be a powerful instrument of economic integration because of its dynamic effects on trade and business cycle convergence. Rose (2000) analysed the issue of the effect of a currency union on bilateral trade in the context of a standard gravity model. His results showed that bilateral trade between two countries that use the same currency is over 200% larger than bilateral trade between countries that use different currencies. This results has been tested extensively and it is generally robust to change in specification, methodology or datasets (see Alesina et al. , 2002, for a review)6. If this is the case, the OCA criteria could underestimate enormously the potential of a CU. A model of currency area should incorporate this element. A second adjustment to the OCA hypothesis that need to be done is relaxing the assumption that exchange rate is an efficient instrument of adjustment of asymmetric shocks to capture a situation like Southern African countries. Recent literature on currency crisis and contagion (Calvo 2002) has put in focus the spillover effects of exchange rate movement across emerging countries which are not related to change in fundamentals. If this is the case, stabilizing exchange ratemight require “sharing”, or monetary policy cooperation.
2. Instability will cause an African nuclear war
Dr. Jeffrey Deutsch, PhD in Economics from George Mason University, November 18, 2002, http://www.rabidtigers.com/
The Rabid Tiger Project believes that a nuclear war is most likely to start in Africa. Civil wars in the Congo (the country formerly known as Zaire), Rwanda,SomaliaandSierra Leone, and domestic instability inZimbabwe,Sudanand other countries, as well as occasional brushfire and other wars (thanks in part to "national" borders that cut across tribal ones) turn into a really nasty stew. We've got all too many rabid tigers and potential rabid tigers, who are willing to push the button rather than risk being seen as wishy-washy in the face of a mortal threat and overthrown. Geopolitically speaking,Africais open range. Very few countries inAfricaare beholden to any particular power.South Africais a major exception in this respect - not to mention in that she also probably already has the Bomb. Thus, outside powers can more easily find client states there than, say, in Europe where the political lines have long since been drawn, or Asia where many of the countries (China, India, Japan) are powers unto themselves and don't need any "help," thank you. Thus, an African war can attract outside involvement very quickly. Of course, a proxy war alone may not induce the Great Powers to fight each other. But an African nuclear strike can ignite a much broader conflagration, if the other powers are interested in a fight. Certainly, such a strike would in the first place have been facilitated by outside help - financial, scientific, engineering, etc. Africa is an ocean of troubled waters, and some people love to go fishing. Asia is a close second, due to the competition of major powers. For example, in an Indo-Paki confrontation, China may be tempted to side with Pakistan, since China and India are major nuclear powers sharing a long border. However, the Asian powers are basically stable internally, at least for now. The things to watch for are domestic economic and political instability in a nuclear power, the spread of nuclear weapons to new countries and new national antagonisms and great-power ties either weak or nonexistent enough to enable opportunistic alliances and destabilization, or strong enough that the great powers feel compelled to follow their client states
A. Uniqueness - Pan Africanism coming now – OAU gives momentum
Dr. Tim Murithi, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, 2007
From Pan-Africanism to the Union of Africa, Fahamu News, All Africa, Inc., June 21, http://allafrica.com/stories/200706211028.html [O’Brien]
The OAU embraced the principle of Pan-Africanism undertook the challenge of liberating all African countries from the grip of settler colonialism. The main principle that it was trying to promote was to end racial discrimination upon which colonialism with its doctrine of racial superiority was based. In addition, the OAU sought to assert the right of Africans to control their social, economic and political affairs and achieve the freedom necessary to consolidate peace and development. The OAU succeeded in its primary mission, with the help of international actors, in liberating the continent on 27 April 1994, when a new government based on a one-person-one-vote came into being in South Africa under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. The OAU however was not as effective in monitoring and policing the affairs of its own Member States when it came to the issues of violent conflict; political corruption; economic mismanagement; poor governance; lack of human rights; lack of gender equality; and poverty eradication.
B. Link - Western Aid toAfricais paternalistic and only propagates the ‘master-servant’ relationship - AU action alone is key to successful Pan-Africanism and solvingAfrica’s terminal problems
Dr. Tim Murithi, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, 2007
From Pan-Africanism to the Union of Africa, Fahamu News, All Africa, Inc., June 21, http://allafrica.com/stories/200706211028.html
Pan-Africanism is an invented notion. It is an invented notion with a purpose. We should therefore pose the question what is the purpose of Pan-Africanism? Essentially, Pan-Africanism is a recognition of the fragmented nature of the existence of African's, their marginalization and alienation whether in their own continent or in the Diaspora. Pan-Africanism seeks to respond to Africa's underdevelopment. Africa has been exploited and a culture of dependency on external assistance unfortunately still prevails on the continent. If people become too reliant on getting their support, their nourishment, their safety, from outside sources, then they do not strive find the power within themselves to rely on their own capacities. Pan-Africanism calls upon Africans to drawn from their own strength and capacities and become self-reliant.Pan-Africanism is a recognition that Africans have been divided among themselves. They are constantly in competition among themselves, deprived of the true ownership of their own resources and inundated by paternalistic external actors with ideas about what it 'good'. Modern day paternalism is more sophisticated and dresses itself up as a kind and gentle helping hand with benign and benevolent intentions. In reality it seeks to maintain a 'master-servant' relationship and does not really want to see the genuine empowerment and independence of thought inAfrica. The net effect of this is to dis-empower Africans from deciding for themselves the best way to deal with the problems and issues they are facing. Pan-Africanism is a recognition that the only way out of this existential, social, political crisis is by promoting greater solidarity amongst Africans. Genuine dialogue and debate in Africa will not always generate consensus, but at least it will be dialogue among Africans about how they might resolve their problems. If ideas are not designed by the African's, then rarely can they be in the interests of Africans.
C. Impact – Pan-Africanism solves war: it reconceptualizes the low respect for human life that allows it to be killed.
Campbell, Prof of African American Studies at Syrucase, 2006 - Pan-Africanism, Pan-Africanists, and African Liberation in the 21st Century, 2006, p 33-34
United States of Africa D/A 1NC Shell (1/2)
- Uniqueness – United States of Africa coming – recent Ordinary Sessions prove
Dr. Tim Murithi, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, 2007From Pan-Africanism to the Union of Africa, Fahamu News, All Africa, Inc., June 21, http://allafrica.com/stories/200706211028.html [O’Brien]
The agenda to establish a Union Government of Africa or the so-called United States of Africa is well underway. At the core of this debate is the desire to create several ministerial portfolios for the African Union. During the 4th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government, from 30 to 31 January 2005, in Abuja, Nigeria, the AU agreed to the proposals made by the Libyan Government to establish ministerial portfolios for the organisation. Specifically, in the 6th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of AU Ministers, Libya proposed the establishment of the posts of Minister of Transport and Communications to unify transportation in Member States to be under the competence of the AU which will include airports and main ports of African capital cities, highways, inter-State railways, State-owned airline companies which are to become the basis for a single African airline company. Ultimately, Libya proposed that this should lead to 'the creation of a post of Minister of Transportation and Communications'.
- Link –
1. US aid to Africa forces insures unilateralism and forces competition – destroying integration and unity.William Minter, senior research fellow at Action Africa, 2003
America and Africa, Current History journal, VOl. 102, Iss. 664, pg. 195, Proquest, Mary 2003 [O’Brien]
Washington will no doubt continue to pursue this unilateral stance, minimizing its participation in multilateral efforts to deal with African development issues. Despite its concessions to donor perspectives, the NEPAD approach to rich countries pursued by African leaders-with the support of Canada, Britain, and some other European countries-finds little backing from the White House or other United States agencies. The United States approach forces each African country to compete with its neighbors in negotiating its relationship with Washington and its access to resources or trade concessions under different United States government programs. President Bush may or may not fulfill his pledge to reschedule a visit to the continent for later this year. Regardless, high-level attention in Washington to African priorities such as further debt cancellation, adequate funding for multilateral institutions at the global and African levels, and reduction in rich-country agricultural trade subsidies is likely to be minimal.
United States of Africa D/A 1NC Shell (1/2)
2. A single unpopular action, SUCH AS THE PLAN, WILL paralyze the organization permanently
Keith GOTTSCHALK and Siegmar SCHMIDT, April 2004, “The African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development: Strong Institutions for Weak States?” weltpoltik.net
The institutions mirror EC/EU structures: the Assembly of Heads of State and Government is the supreme organ, and the Executive Council consists of the foreign ministers or other ministers. The Committee of Permanent Representatives, the African Court of Justice, the Pan-African Parliament, the Commission and various advisory and technical bodies for social, economic and cultural matters complete the institutional framework. Compared with EU institutions, two main differences are important. First, the AU Commission has only the function of a secretariat and so far has no powers of its own: it is not a supranational institution. Second, decisions by both the Executive Council and the Assembly can be made by a two-thirds majority. In contrast, the right of veto is a core element of the European Council, and in the Council of Ministers states still have a veto on many issues. On the one hand, the AU regulations could increase its effectiveness by making possible quicker decisions than in the eu, where the search for consensus, often according to the lowest common denominator, is the daily reality. On the other hand, there is a danger that states will not support an AU action when they are outvoted. This could lead to the paralysis of the organization in cases where bigger and more powerful states will not respect a decision against their interests and therefore abstain. Sovereignty, the core principle of the OAU, is not curtailed by supranational institutions but by the mode of decision-making.
- Impact – The United States of Africa is the only way to solve the misery and ethnic conflict in Africa
Africa News, 7/17/07, “Laugh All You Want, the US of Africa is an Idea That Can Work”, LexisSECONDLY, GIVEN the past history of failure of the Pan-African project, the fact that the leaders picked themselves up and gave it another shot, probably knowing well that they would bring ridicule upon themselves, was a wonderful thing. Wonderful because only those who are ready to live with failure ever succeed. It is the one lesson every young man learns growing up. The ones who are too shy to risk rejection, never get the girls. Thirdly, the idea of a U.S. of Africa, like that of the East African political federation, is usually shot down with familiar arguments. The most common is that if a country like Uganda cannot unite its 40 or so ethnic groups, some of whom are busy murdering each other over their differences, how can it realistically expect to make a success of a union with 2,000 tribes? A VALID question. However, the threat (or promise) of things like the U.S. of Africa or the East African political federation tends to make countries look at themselves more closely and seriously examine their nationhood. If the proponents of the U.S. of Africa could ratchet up the campaign for it, the internal debates within nations about what they are all about could also intensify. That's a good thing because, at some point in the future, it will no longer be possible to tell the citizens of most countries that they should not seek the promise of a U.S. of Africa, however illusionary it might sound, because of their national failures. There will come a time when the people will gamble on an elusive happiness within a giant U.S. of Africa, rather than settle for the certainty of failure and misery within their tiny national borders. Charles Onyango-Obbo is Nation Media Group's managing editor for convergence and new products.
A. Uniqueness – NEPAD succeeding now – other countries on board now
NEPAD succeeding now – countries are on board.Paul R. Masson is a Visiting Fellow in Economic Studies and Governance Studies. and Heather Milkiewicz is a research assistant in Economic Studies. July 2003 (Africa's Economic Morass--Will a Common Currency Help?, http://www.brook.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb121.htm) [O’Brien]
The NEPAD process has just begun. As of May 31, 2003, fifteen African countries have agreed to submit themselves to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a self-monitoring organization comprised of African Union member states. The purpose of the peer review panel, which will have between five and seven members, is to promote the implementation of policies and standards that will lead to political stability, economic growth, development, and integration on a regional and continent-wide level. The recently selected panel consists of six well- respected Africans from various disciplines and includes Graça Machel, humanitarian, former first lady of Mozambique, and wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
B. Link – Funding from the United States for the plan discourages regional unity that is key for NEPAD success.
Africa News, 6-17-06, “PanAfrica; African Union Chairman Expresses Optimism, Pushes Investment”, Lexis.
NEPAD is an excellent idea, but it needs funding. What is the best way to work it? Yes thank you, I think it is a generous and appropriate idea, and it's an idea that I support personally. We cannot always be asking others to help finance our projects; we have to do some of it ourselves. I have suggested to my peers during my mandate that each regional grouping, economic grouping, choose one project per region, an integrating project, that would be chosen by the leader and the people of this region that the NEPAD could then truly work to develop and implement, so that NEPAD doesn't remain just an idea, but that it can really become something practical. And I have written to the presidents of the regional communities and shared this idea with them, and we will work on it in the future during the Banjul summit and see what comes out of it. But as you can see, there are different ideas to promote the future of NEPAD, and this is one of the reasons why I'm optimistic. And I have already discussed this with Louis Michel, who is the European Commissioner for Development, and he agrees fully with this idea. Tomorrow I will meet with the president of the World Bank, and I will also share this idea with him, and I want to also share the idea with the president of the African Development Bank, and I will see what their reactions will be, and hopefully they will support this as well because we need to act because we need NEPAD to go beyond the stage of just being an idea.
C. Internal Link - NEPAD success key for a common African currency
Paul Masson and Catherine Pattillo, 2004 “A single currency for Africa” International Monetary Fund http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2004/12/pdf/masson.pdf (grimes)
Second, the AU’s NEPAD initiative—a parallel initiative to the monetary union project—recognizes that peer pressure within Africa can help in meeting NEPAD’s aims of improved economic growth, governance, and policies. While it is too early to gauge whether NEPAD will be effective, it holds the potential to tackle the most important causes of the failings of African policymaking. Better governance and domestic policies would in turn facilitate regional economic integration, including monetary union. The absence of progress on these issues would almost certainly doom an African monetary union to failure.
D. Impact – Intra-African Trade
1. Common currency is key to Intra-African Trade
Kopano F Matsaseng and Nicola Viegi, professors at University of Natal, 2003 “African Economic Integration: Is a common currency a necessary condition?” http://www.google.com/search?q=%22common+currency%22+AND+africa&hl=en&start=20&sa=N
Recent research suggests a possible answer. A common currency could be a powerful instrument of economic integration because of its dynamic effects on trade and business cycle convergence. Rose (2000) analysed the issue of the effect of a currency union on bilateral trade in the context of a standard gravity model. His results showed that bilateral trade between two countries that use the same currency is over 200% larger than bilateral trade between countries that use different currencies. This results has been tested extensively and it is generally robust to change in specification, methodology or datasets (see Alesina et al. , 2002, for a review)6. If this is the case, the OCA criteria could underestimate enormously the potential of a CU. A model of currency area should incorporate this element. A second adjustment to the OCA hypothesis that need to be done is relaxing the assumption that exchange rate is an efficient instrument of adjustment of asymmetric shocks to capture a situation like Southern African countries. Recent literature on currency crisis and contagion (Calvo 2002) has put in focus the spillover effects of exchange rate movement across emerging countries which are not related to change in fundamentals. If this is the case, stabilizing exchange ratemight require “sharing”, or monetary policy cooperation.
2. Instability will cause an African nuclear war
Dr. Jeffrey Deutsch, PhD in Economics from George Mason University, November 18, 2002, http://www.rabidtigers.com/
The Rabid Tiger Project believes that a nuclear war is most likely to start in Africa. Civil wars in the Congo (the country formerly known as Zaire), Rwanda, Somalia and Sierra Leone, and domestic instability in Zimbabwe, Sudan and other countries, as well as occasional brushfire and other wars (thanks in part to "national" borders that cut across tribal ones) turn into a really nasty stew. We've got all too many rabid tigers and potential rabid tigers, who are willing to push the button rather than risk being seen as wishy-washy in the face of a mortal threat and overthrown. Geopolitically speaking, Africa is open range. Very few countries in Africa are beholden to any particular power. South Africa is a major exception in this respect - not to mention in that she also probably already has the Bomb. Thus, outside powers can more easily find client states there than, say, in Europe where the political lines have long since been drawn, or Asia where many of the countries (China, India, Japan) are powers unto themselves and don't need any "help," thank you. Thus, an African war can attract outside involvement very quickly. Of course, a proxy war alone may not induce the Great Powers to fight each other. But an African nuclear strike can ignite a much broader conflagration, if the other powers are interested in a fight. Certainly, such a strike would in the first place have been facilitated by outside help - financial, scientific, engineering, etc. Africa is an ocean of troubled waters, and some people love to go fishing. Asia is a close second, due to the competition of major powers. For example, in an Indo-Paki confrontation, China may be tempted to side with Pakistan, since China and India are major nuclear powers sharing a long border. However, the Asian powers are basically stable internally, at least for now. The things to watch for are domestic economic and political instability in a nuclear power, the spread of nuclear weapons to new countries and new national antagonisms and great-power ties either weak or nonexistent enough to enable opportunistic alliances and destabilization, or strong enough that the great powers feel compelled to follow their client states
A. Uniqueness - Pan Africanism coming now – OAU gives momentum
Dr. Tim Murithi, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, 2007
From Pan-Africanism to the Union of Africa, Fahamu News, All Africa, Inc., June 21, http://allafrica.com/stories/200706211028.html [O’Brien]
The OAU embraced the principle of Pan-Africanism undertook the challenge of liberating all African countries from the grip of settler colonialism. The main principle that it was trying to promote was to end racial discrimination upon which colonialism with its doctrine of racial superiority was based. In addition, the OAU sought to assert the right of Africans to control their social, economic and political affairs and achieve the freedom necessary to consolidate peace and development. The OAU succeeded in its primary mission, with the help of international actors, in liberating the continent on 27 April 1994, when a new government based on a one-person-one-vote came into being in South Africa under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. The OAU however was not as effective in monitoring and policing the affairs of its own Member States when it came to the issues of violent conflict; political corruption; economic mismanagement; poor governance; lack of human rights; lack of gender equality; and poverty eradication.
B. Link - Western Aid to Africa is paternalistic and only propagates the ‘master-servant’ relationship - AU action alone is key to successful Pan-Africanism and solving Africa’s terminal problems
Dr. Tim Murithi, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, 2007
From Pan-Africanism to the Union of Africa, Fahamu News, All Africa, Inc., June 21, http://allafrica.com/stories/200706211028.html
Pan-Africanism is an invented notion. It is an invented notion with a purpose. We should therefore pose the question what is the purpose of Pan-Africanism? Essentially, Pan-Africanism is a recognition of the fragmented nature of the existence of African's, their marginalization and alienation whether in their own continent or in the Diaspora. Pan-Africanism seeks to respond to Africa's underdevelopment. Africa has been exploited and a culture of dependency on external assistance unfortunately still prevails on the continent. If people become too reliant on getting their support, their nourishment, their safety, from outside sources, then they do not strive find the power within themselves to rely on their own capacities. Pan-Africanism calls upon Africans to drawn from their own strength and capacities and become self-reliant. Pan-Africanism is a recognition that Africans have been divided among themselves. They are constantly in competition among themselves, deprived of the true ownership of their own resources and inundated by paternalistic external actors with ideas about what it 'good'. Modern day paternalism is more sophisticated and dresses itself up as a kind and gentle helping hand with benign and benevolent intentions. In reality it seeks to maintain a 'master-servant' relationship and does not really want to see the genuine empowerment and independence of thought in Africa. The net effect of this is to dis-empower Africans from deciding for themselves the best way to deal with the problems and issues they are facing. Pan-Africanism is a recognition that the only way out of this existential, social, political crisis is by promoting greater solidarity amongst Africans. Genuine dialogue and debate in Africa will not always generate consensus, but at least it will be dialogue among Africans about how they might resolve their problems. If ideas are not designed by the African's, then rarely can they be in the interests of Africans.
C. Impact – Pan-Africanism solves war: it reconceptualizes the low respect for human life that allows it to be killed.
Campbell, Prof of African American Studies at Syrucase, 2006 - Pan-Africanism, Pan-Africanists, and African Liberation in the 21st Century, 2006, p 33-34